You know how Google has that flu-tracking thing? Apparently it has recognized outbreaks two weeks sooner than even the Centers for Disease Control. Well, I have a similar tool right here on Verbatim. As soon as I posted the obligatory "Is this thing on?" blog post on March 8, 2004, I wasted no time in posting a humorous (dark humor, but humor nonetheless) piece about the good ol' 24-hour stomach bug that was currently laying waste to poor Steph, then age 7 (Julie's current age! ACK!). That post has generated more traffic via Google search than any other in my 5 years of blogging. My hard-working staff of statisticians tell me that yesterday alone, I got 4 hits on that post, and 7 the day before (and 7 already today, with 5 hours still to go in this time zone). I think the CDC should put some of their best people and their fancy-shmancy computer epidemiology simulation programs on the case. They could easily track who's Googling "24-hour stomach bug" and where they're located, and then ... what? Buy them some ginger ale and saltines? Offer to do their laundry? Never mind.
« The Cat in the Cat in the Hat Box | Main | Friday iPod Random Ten »
February 26, 2009
Comments
The comments to this entry are closed.
It's interesting reading the old comments, but even more interesting that people are still commenting on it now!
Posted by: Elena | February 27, 2009 at 01:55 PM
And now that I've read this blog twice, I'm struggling to restrain myself from going to said post and reading it for fear I will inevitably end up commenting there as well! How funny.
Posted by: Laura | February 28, 2009 at 09:35 PM